Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 19, 2008 at 07:38:24:
Tribune Co. moves to strenghten its cash position
Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co., in a government filing Friday, said it is drawing $250 million from an existing $750 million secured revolving credit facility, increasing its cash position "to preserve its financial flexibility in light of the current uncertainty in the credit markets."
Between this $250 million and approximately $98 million in outstanding letters of credit, Tribune Co. has approximately $402 million remaining undrawn on the revolving line of credit.
The media concern, whose properties also include Los Angeles Times, WGN-Ch. 9 and the Chicago Cubs, said in a statement: "Like many businesses, we are strengthening our liquidity position in today's uncertain credit market. This draw represents only a portion of our revolver; we have access to a remaining $400 million."
Tribune Co. arranged for the revolving credit facility last year after announcing it was accepting Sam Zell's bid to take the media concern private but before that deal closed. The lead banks are JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp North America, Bank of America and Barclays.
(Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)